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Millions meant to pay for water cleanup spent by cities in other ways

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 22, 2009 at 7:24 am

From the Merced Sun-Star:

A handful of San Joaquin Valley cities and public agencies have used millions of dollars meant for filtering contaminated water for entirely unrelated purposes, records and interviews show.

At least 16 cities, school districts and water districts in the region received a total of nearly $7 million in the 1990s from legal settlements with oil and chemical companies that produced a toxic pesticide called DBCP. The oily substance was used by farmers for decades and seeped into underground water sources before it was banned.

But at least five of those agencies, collectively, have spent or loaned out $6 million or more from the settlements on projects unrelated to water quality. Some can’t account for how all of the money was spent.

Peter Molligan, a Bay Area attorney who helped some of the cities reach settlements in the DBCP cases, said that despite the fact that many of the settlement agreements said the money was meant for filters and new wells, there were no legal restrictions on how funds could be spent.

Read more from the Merced Sun-Star by clicking here.

June 22, 2009 · Filed Under Groundwater, San Joaquin Valley

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